Sarah Palin and the little people

Next month in Nashville, Tenn., the first-ever national tea-party convention will take place. The tea-party movement is getting to be like the Politburo of the 1920s. Too many factions each claiming to know the true path. I can't keep up.

However, this part is clear enough: Dave Weigel of the Windy is reporting that our old friend S.P. is speaking there -- and being paid as much as perhaps $100,000 for her appearance. There are lots of guesstimates as to the actual amount:

Conservative blogger Dan Riehl is reporting, based on "forwarded communications," that Palin is making at least $75,000 and at most $100,000 for her speech. Tickets for the speech alone are going for $349 — tickets for the whole convention are $549.

"I'd speculate that Palin's making at least $35,000 or $50,000, with $50,000 being more likely" said Eric Odom, executive director of the American Liberty Alliance, which is doing a promotional exchange for the convention. "I mean, Glenn Beck charges $60,000, $70,000 and a private jet." He wasn't planning this part of the convention, but he supported the Palin booking and argued that the convention was "as grassroots as it gets."

Weigel notes that she's skipping the higher-profile and usually very important meeting of the Conservative Political Action Committee, or C-PAC. All GOP prez hopefuls are supposed to speak at C-PAC functions.

The catch, however, is the one you might already have guessed: C-PAC doesn't pay honoraria. That's not how our Sarah does it now!

And how about that Beck? More than a year's salary for your average Joe plus a private jet? First class isn't good enough? No, because then he'd have to go to a regular airport gate, where he'd be mobbed by adoring fans but also where someone who thinks he's an idiotic and lying crypto-fascist might come up to him and say "you're an idiotic and lying crypto-fascist," and someone else would record it on their cell phone. And so those who want to hear him speak has to pay around $3,000 per flight hour to save him the potential embarrassment. I'd love capitalism too, I guess.